Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 11.28.19
Āśraya· The supreme shelterThe Lord Is the Essential Reality
“Gold alone is present before its manufacture into gold products, the gold alone remains after the products’ destruction, and the gold alone is the essential reality while it is being utilized under various designations. Similarly, I alone exist before the creation of this universe, after its destruction and during its maintenance.”
What the purport teaches
- Gold remains the essential reality before it becomes a product, while the product is used and after the product is destroyed.
- Similarly, the Supreme Personality of Godhead exists before the universe’s creation, during its maintenance and after its destruction.
- The Lord is both the dynamic cause and the ingredient cause of everything. Throughout creation, He sets His own potency into motion, and that potency is not different from Him.
Try this today
Look at one material object today and reflect that the Lord’s potency, not its temporary form or name, is its underlying reality.
Ask yourself
How does the example of gold help me understand the Lord’s relationship with creation?
Carry the question through the day, then answer it in your own words before sleep.
From Canto 10, chapter 14 onward, the translation and purports were completed by Śrīla Prabhupāda's disciples after his departure, and published by the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.